-LRB- EW.com -RRB- -- Chris Pratt 's career is about to soar out of this world â $ '' or , more accurately , out of this galaxy .

EW has confirmed that the `` Parks and Recreation '' funnyman will play the lead character in Marvel 's upcoming `` Guardians of the Galaxy , '' a key part of Marvel 's Phase Two plan . Deadline first reported the news .

EW.com : Marvel Studios goes micro and macro with Comic-Con revelations

Pratt , who recently slimmed down -LRB- and bulked up -RRB- for his role in `` Zero Dark Thirty , '' will play Star Lord , the half-human , half-alien leader of a bio-engineered team of space-traveling heroes . That team includes a green-skinned warrior , a gun-slinging raccoon , a female alien assassin and a fearsome tree-being .

With director James Gunn , the man behind the shlocky masterpiece that is `` Slither , '' and newly-crowned leading man Pratt , is there a chance that `` Guardians of the Galaxy '' will be an outright superhero comedy ?

EW.com : James Gunn confirms he 's directing ` Guardians of the Galaxy '

The source material certainly suggests that the film could work as a totally ridiculous adventure , but we 'll obviously have to wait and see what tone the filmmakers choose .

See the original story at EW.com .

Entertainment Weekly 's Anthony Breznican contributed to this report .

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Chris Pratt will play the lead character in `` Guardians of the Galaxy ''

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He 'll portray Star Lord , the half-human , half-alien leader of a team of space-traveling heroes

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With director James Gunn aboard , there 's a chance it could be an outright comedy